back to article Parker Solar Probe sends a "Still Alive" tone back to Earth

There is good news for Sun botherers: the Parker Solar Probe appears to have survived its close encounter with our nearest star. The probe was just 3.8 million miles from the surface of the Sun as it whipped past at 430,000 miles per hour on December 24. The operations team at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL …

  1. Sgt_Oddball
    Boffin

    I give it 30 years...

    Before we're trying to find a way of getting a satellite close enough to fly through a coronal loop...

    Still this is an awesome achievement of having it get that close and not become one with the infinite leaving a million mile long trail of magic smoke.

    1. Headley_Grange Silver badge

      Re: I give it 30 years...

      So you must be giving it about 20 years until we can predict where the coronal loops are going to be?

      1. Pascal Monett Silver badge

        Good point.

        It would still be awesome though.

      2. zimzam

        Re: I give it 30 years...

        Who says you have to hit a particular one? They often last days, you can wait for an active zone to appear near the probe's orbit and deorbit through it. I don't know how much more data we'd get compared to observing them from a distance though.

        1. Headley_Grange Silver badge

          Re: I give it 30 years...

          I'm not an expert in near-sun orbital mechanics but I bet you need a lot of booster energy and power to have a significant affect on the orbit of an object that close to the sun.

          1. zimzam

            Re: I give it 30 years...

            I didn't say change the orbit, I said deorbit. It doesn't require that much fuel to give in to gravity. You pick an orbit where active zones are common and wait for one to come to you. Presumably you want the probe to survive long enough to actually transmit that data back to you so developing electronics hardening would be part of the mission as well.

            1. Crypto Monad Silver badge

              Re: I give it 30 years...

              It doesn't require that much fuel to give in to gravity

              Actually, in the absence of an atmosphere for drag, it requires rather a lot.

              Just getting Parker from the Earth into an elliptical orbit around the Sun took a lot of manoeuvering: seven flybys of Venus over more than 6 years, to bleed off enough momentum.

            2. Gene Cash Silver badge

              Re: I give it 30 years...

              Orbital mechanics isn't simply "giving in to gravity"

            3. Richard 12 Silver badge

              Re: I give it 30 years...

              Deorbit means changing the orbit, quite significantly.

              That said, the idea of sitting in a higher orbit waiting for a loop to turn up somewhere you can aim for given the available delta-v isn't totally crazy.

              However, the shorter the timescale, the greater the delta-v required, and at the moment we definitely can't loft enough delta-v needed to get there in time.

            4. Filippo Silver badge

              Re: I give it 30 years...

              It doesn't require much fuel to get in a state where you'll eventually fall. It does take quite a lot of fuel to fall quickly from a stable orbit.

    2. spold Silver badge

      Re: I give it 30 years...

      I think they should try a Starship (appropriately) prototype very soon... with Musk onboard.

      1. Bebu sa Ware
        Coat

        Re: I give it 30 years...

        《I think they should try a Starship (appropriately) prototype very soon... with Musk onboard.》

        Seconded - per aspera, ad astra which might be rephrased "through our having to endure [Space Karen], [let him be cast] [in]to the star[s]."

    3. KittenHuffer Silver badge
      Boffin

      Re: I give it 30 years...

      The material we know (so far) with the highest melting point is Tantalum Hafnium Carbide Alloy at 3990 centigrade. And the surface of the Sun is at around 5500 Centigrade. I'm afraid that with modern materials the only thing that we could get close enough to fly to fly through a coronal loop would be a molten ball of liquid.

      If we were to try with a small red dwarf (1700+ Centigrade) then it might just be possible.

  2. I am David Jones Silver badge
    Coat

    Good job

    Mine’s the coat with SPF 10^8 in the pocket

    1. Eclectic Man Silver badge
      Joke

      Re: Good job

      SPF 108 ? In good old Blighty* we just use a handkerchief with a knot at each corner as a sun hat.

      * England to you colonial types.

      1. heyrick Silver badge

        Re: Good job

        ...on the three days of the year when the sun makes an appearance.

        1. Tim99 Silver badge

          Re: Good job

          Over 30 years ago, I emigrated from Blighty to a place that has 3,200 hours of sunshine a year. Frequent returns in the UK summer showed a related difference between the two places. When it got to 23C in the UK Midlands, blokes started taking off their shirts - Here on Christmas Day our maximum was 23C, we complained about how cold it felt (It should have been 28-30C).

      2. MachDiamond Silver badge

        Re: Good job

        "In good old Blighty* we just use a handkerchief with a knot at each corner as a sun hat."

        Mad dogs, etc.

      3. spold Silver badge

        Re: Good job

        ...or a "kiss me quick" hat.

        BTW Wasn't that an alternative friend or foe guard's password for Caligula's "hello darling"? ;-)

      4. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Good job

        > * England to you colonial types.

        Pomgolia to us colonials. Outer Pomgolia covering the other barely english speaking parts.

      5. Bebu sa Ware
        Coat

        Re: Good job

        we just use a handkerchief with a knot at each corner

        Ned Gumby ("my brain hurts") fashion?

  3. Potemkine! Silver badge

    Miles? It's still the middle age or what?

    1. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

      Isn't the Sun middle-aged by now?

    2. Paul Herber Silver badge
      Megaphone

      Distances in leagues, fuel volume in firkins, temperature in Fahrenheit, time in fortnights.

      Just wait until Farage makes this official Reform Party policy.

      1. Boris the Cockroach Silver badge
        Boffin

        "Just wait until Farage makes this official Reform Party policy."

        Nope far too sensible units for him :)

        Meanwhile back on the sun

        "WTF was that?" says the sun

      2. Antony Shepherd

        Surely Herr Fahrenheit is a bit too foreign for Nige’s nasties. They’d prefer a temperature measurement that’s British. So Kelvin it is then!

        1. cyberdemon Silver badge
          Coat

          Kelvin? But that's an SI unit, far too French.

          Nige would take back control and invent a new unit based on the temperature of fag-ash

      3. Christoph

        It was Rees-Mogadon that wanted to bring back all the old units. But the Tories can't do that because they don't have any scruples.

        1. Bebu sa Ware
          Coat

          Not a grain of a scruple but drams are another matter

          But the Tories can't do that because they don't have any scruples.

          I imagine neither side would pass up a wee dram.

      4. Bebu sa Ware
        Coat

        Daft enough to be so

        《Distances in leagues, fuel volume in firkins, temperature in Fahrenheit, time in fortnights.

        Just wait until Farage makes this official Reform Party policy.》

        And a return to £/s/d with a gold standard for pounds (sovereigns and guineas) and a silver standard for shillings (half crowns, florins, 1s, 6d and 3d) and a floating conversion between the two.

    3. werdsmith Silver badge

      The measurement and unit I would use for this is about four sun diameters, and when I think of it that way it really underlines the achievement.

      1. cyberdemon Silver badge
        Pint

        Is that surface diameter or corona diameter, and where exactly do we define the edge of either? We won't know until it has completed its mission

  4. wolfetone Silver badge
    Trollface

    "Congratulations to the Parker Solar Probe for setting a new record for 'Worst Job Avoiding The Sun.'"

    Should ask the good people of Liverpool how it's done!

    1. seven of five Silver badge

      Would have, if there were any.

  5. AndrueC Silver badge
    Joke

    It would have been a lot easier if they'd sent the probe at night.

    1. Ball boy Silver badge
      Coat

      Ridiculous idea. How would they take any decent pictures in the middle of the night? They'd get the most awful red-eye if they used flash ;)

      /Mine's the one with the very, very dark glasses in the pocket.

    2. Winkypop Silver badge
      Coat

      Well, at least they sent it during winter.

  6. David 132 Silver badge

    Having seen Star Trek IV…

    …and thereby knowing the result of a slingshot maneuver around the Sun, I am disappointed that the Parker probe’s “OK” signal wasn’t received back in 1986.

    1. The Oncoming Scorn Silver badge
      Headmaster

      Re: Having seen Star Trek IV…

      We weren't listening for it back then....

      1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

        Re: Having seen Star Trek IV…

        They miscalculated. It was heard in 1967, the LGM signal :-)

    2. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge
      Happy

      Re: Having seen Star Trek IV…

      They got the signal. It’s just nobody knew what nuclear wessels meant…

      Or was it nuclear weasels?

      1. Tim99 Silver badge
        Coat

        Re: Having seen Star Trek IV…

        It was Christmas, "Here We Come A-wassailing"?

    3. milliemoo83

      Re: Having seen Star Trek IV…

      Also bear in mind the original Enterprise crew pulled the same trick long before The Voyage Home. A manoeuvre replicated by a more recent crew also. :)

    4. Brewster's Angle Grinder Silver badge

      Re: Having seen Star Trek IV…

      The way relativity works, all FTL machines are de facto time machines. It's easy to see it the other way round: with a time machine I could travel to wherever at subluminal speeds and then travels backwards in time to make it appear I had travelled faster than light.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Having seen Star Trek IV…

        > It's easy to see it the other way round: with a time machine I could travel to wherever at subluminal speeds and then travels backwards in time to make it appear I had travelled faster than light.

        I'm not sure it works quite like that. According to NASA, travelling to Alpha Centauri would take 150,000 years using standard rocket technology.

        I suggest you pack a pipe and slippers if you plan to arrive aged 150,000!

  7. An_Old_Dog Silver badge
    Joke

    Probe Weather Report

    Sol I Weather Report:

    Hot.

    Really, really hot.

    Just ... unbelievably hot. You shouldn't come here. You wouldn't like it.

    1. Androgynous Cupboard Silver badge

      Re: Probe Weather Report

      Scorchio!

    2. milliemoo83

      Re: Probe Weather Report

      "What's the weather like out there? "It's hot. Damn hot! Real hot! Hottest things is my shorts. I could cook things in it. A little crotch pot cooking." Well, can you tell me what it feels like. "Fool, it's hot! I told you again! Were you born on the sun? It's damn hot! I saw - It's so damn hot, I saw little guys, their orange robes burst into flames. It's that hot! Do you know what I'm talking about." What do you think it's going to be like tonight? "It's gonna be hot and wet! That's nice if you're with a lady, but it ain't no good if you're in the jungle."

  8. HorseflySteve

    Or, for The Sun readers..

    Phew, what a scorcher!

  9. Sam 15

    First Response from Parker

    Very Good M'Lady.

    (I still fancy the posh car with 6 wheels)

    1. Winkypop Silver badge

      Re: First Response from Parker

      Came to make this very comment.

      So I applaud your great wit sir/madam.

      1. milliemoo83

        Re: First Response from Parker

        I agree. The 'still alive tone' should have either been an excerpt of the Thunderbirds March, or for something slightly more recent - Still Alive, from Portal.

        1. cyberdemon Silver badge
          Pint

          Still Alive, from Portal.

          I think that was alluded to in the subheading..

    2. Phil E Succour

      Re: First Response from Parker

      I wish it had broadcast the “I’m not dead!" clip from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

    3. jokerscrowbar

      Re: First Response from Parker

      Thunderbox - A Postcard From The Sun

  10. Adam Foxton

    A Still Alive message?

    This was a triumph!

    I'm making a note here: 'Huge success'.

    It's hard to overstate my satisfaction.

  11. ravenviz Silver badge
    Boffin

    Bright

    By my reckoning the Sun would also be 1,500 times brighter than we see it!

  12. TRT

    The Parker sun probe?

    Yes, mi'lady.

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